Prince Albert Raiders fend off late comeback with 6-3 victory over Tigers

With the WHL Eastern Conference final series reduced to a best-of-three, it still felt like the Prince Albert Raiders had the momentum against the Medicine Hat Tigers headed into Game 5.

Even though the series was tied at 2-2, the Raiders had dominated through the last two games and were coming off a win as the series returned to the Art Hauser Centre on Friday night.

Read more:

The Raiders went on the attack early, but the Tigers hung around and made things close late in the game, before Owen Corkish’s first career WHL hat trick put the final statement on a 6-3 Raiders win.

It was obvious early the Raiders were enjoying being back on home ice in the first period, and they scored right at the five minute mark. Braeden Cootes made a check that knocked a puck away below the goal line, and Jonah Sivertson recollected it for the Raiders before centering it for Alisher Sarkenov, who opened the scoring with his fifth of the playoffs.

The Raiders heavily outshot the Tigers in the first period, but Carter Casey stood tall. The Tigers only had two shots on goal through the first 17 minutes of the period, but they scored on their third at 17:10 thanks to Yaroslav Bryzgalov winning a puck battle behind the net, then setting up Jonas Woo for a one-timer similar to the play the Raiders scored on earlier in the period.

After 1: Raiders 1-1 Tigers, shots 16-3 Raiders

Just 22 seconds into the second period, the Raiders took over. On an early faceoff in the offensive zone, Aiden Oiring won it back to his right, Justice Christensen faked a pass over across the blue line before firing a wrist shot up high, and Corkish earned his first goal of the night on a great tip as he crossed in front of the net, for his fourth of the playoffs.

At the 8:57 mark, Brock Cripps collected the puck at the right point, and then he sent it across the blue line for Maddix McCagherty on the left side. He fired a shot towards the slot, where Ben Harvey was streaking towards the net and tipped in his third of the playoffs.

Then came Corkish’s best work of the night. Daxon Rudolph started the play when he played the puck up the right wall and into the corner for Brayden Dube. Corkish had snuck in behind the defence, received the pass from Dube, turned to his forehand, and was stopped on his first chance. He quickly picked up his rebound, made a smooth move to his backhand, and buried it with his second of the game, fifth of the playoffs, all at 13:36.

After 2: Raiders 4-1 Tigers, shots 18-12 Raiders, 34-15 Raiders overall

Early in the third period, the Tigers went to work and started to mount a comeback. At the 1:55 mark, Cam Parr threw a shot towards the goal, and Ethan Neutens battled to knock in the goal at the 1:55 mark, similar to Harvey’s goal for the Raiders back in the second.

At 9:19 the Tigers managed to get a shot on goal from Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll, and Josh Van Mulligan beat everyone else to the rebound and brought the Tigers back to within one.

From there, the Tigers looked like they had the momentum until they pulled their goaltender. Shortly after a 6-on-5 faceoff would end up in the Raiders zone, the Tigers won the puck out of the corner and towards the slot. That puck came right to Corkish in the slot, however, and he hit the net from his own zone for his first career hat trick at 17:29, making it six goals in the playoffs.

The Tigers managed to get control of the puck and try to go on the rush again, but the Raiders took it back and Dube tucked in his sixth of the playoffs at 18:31.

FINAL: Raiders 6-3 Tigers, shots 13-13, 47-29 Raiders overall

The Raiders will travel back to Medicine Hat on Saturday to prepare for Game 6 on Sunday at 6 p.m.

Read more: